Evaluation

I consider the final cut of my film to relate well to the genre of chick flick, which can also be connected to romantic comedy due to the fact that the codes and conventions within these two genres are very similar.

The codes and conventions of my chosen genre appear within my film as it relates to a stereotypical teenage girls lifestyle. Other ways in which I have related my film to my chosen genre is by including the walking sequence. When researched my genre, I found that a lot of romantic comedies/chick flicks open with the main character (usually the girl first, as the film is being targeted towards a female audience) walking towards the camera.  This is therefore why I included this in my opening. I feel I have also hinted about the genre by the ‘accidental bump’ where the two exchange eye contact for the first time. The style of the font also appears young (again targeting my specific audience), as well as including a handwriting style font, which I think also has signifies youth as it has connotations of school and youth. I have also used a white/pink font colouring within my opening, which also makes it more obvious that I am targeting a female audience.

I think a film industry like working titlewould be the correct distributors to be involved with my film.  This is because firstly, working titlehave produced many romantic comedies such as, Bridget Jones, Love Actually and Notting Hill. I think my film also relates to humour as the two bump into each other, this has connotations of humour as well as romance. Although working titletend to produce rom-coms, and mine is more of a chick flick, I still feel they would be a good distributer as their films are English based, and my film takes place in an English town.

As I have already discussed, my target audience is today’s stereotypical  teenage girl.  However I do feel that these teenage girl’s mother’s may be interested in the film too, as it still has many codes and conventions which appear in romantic comedies. I have not tried to target a male audience, and a typical teenage boy’s film is far from a love story.  On the other hand, I am hoping that my film will also attract teenage couples, as a couple appear in the film.  As well as this, I know from experience that when a couple plan to go to the cinema and the girl is left to choose what film they are going to see, they often choose a romantic comedy, as the romance appeals to the girl and the comedy attracts the Male’s attention.

In making this film I have been introduced to many different forms of technology, such as using a hand held camera and using the camera facilities, for example, zooming in and outwards. As I used a different camera in my final than I did in the preliminary task. However I used the skills I had already learnt from doing this task, as well as learning new ones. I have also had to learn how to use adobe premiere elements editing software. This software enables it possible to shorten the lengths of the different clips and place them all together in the correct order. I have also been able to insert sound clips and time then correctly, as well as being able to add transition effects as one sequence flows into another.

I feel that doing the preliminary task has helped me in progressing my film further as I was aware of the editing software (although I still learnt more), and has helped in being more confident with the filming.

Over all, I am happy with my final film, as I have a specific audience and have conveyed to the correct codes and conventions.

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Production company

As the opening sequence originally went straight into the film, I decided I needed to create a production company, in which the name would appear before the film begun.

After watching through the opening to many films, I noticed that most films start of black, and the production company logo/name appears across the screen, and then this fades into black as the film begins. This is why I have decided to do something similar, in the hope it will appear more professional.

I have called my production company, HB production, as it relates to me However a lot of production companies do not have a logo, or a logo that relates to their name. For example, PIXAR have a jumping lamp. This is why I have not included one, as I feel it already relates to me enough.

To jazz the opening up a little, and make it aware that my production company are aiming this film at a teenage audience, I decided to include a popcorn image as my film begins. The film now opens with the screen black as it slowly fades into this popcorn title sequence. My production name will then appear on the screen, as if it is being typed in, and then this gradually fades to black and into my film.

I also felt it necessary to include sound during this title sequence, and have chosen a ‘bouncy’ sound, that drops as my production company name is shown. I am over all pleased with this sequence, as I feel it relates to me, the target audience, and am pleased with the sound as it introduces it well The font I have used also relates to the music and the transistion as the font appears young  (relating to the target audience) and playful (the way that the font appears).

Sound and lighting

There were a few problems with the sound, as filming outside in February with a hell of a lot of wind affected the camera. Therefore I’ve had to lower the sound slightly in those parts, as well as the sequence in the town center, where there is too much noise from people walking by. You can’t notice the difference in the sound, as it is at the same level, just certain parts have been lowered. I also had to do this in a sequence in the house, as you could hear me saying ‘GO’!! However all of these sound problems have now been sorted and everything is good I have also edited the incidental music/non diegetic sound towards the end of the opening, I have made it gradually fade in and out as the opening slowly dissolves into black.

During the preliminary task, we had to edit our continuity sequence in order to become familular with the software. However before I had not realised that there was so many different ways of piecing the clips of film together. So I feel that now, I have learnt more within the editing software I had tried to change the lighting slightly in the continuity exercise, however felt that I coudl not get it too still appear natural, and therefore just left it the same. However, I know needed to use this lighting editing tool, as there was a problem with the lighting. For some reason, there is a clip in my film in which the light flickers from bright to dull. I’m not too sure weather this is due to un-ntatural lighting, but I have tried to correct this error. I have infact improved this lighting issue a lot compared to what it looked like before, however it does still flicker. There is a flicker tool on the editing software, however it cannot fix the problem well enough, but I have done my best

Tweaking

Once I’d got the hang of the editing, it wasn’t long before it all came together nicely All of the clips flowed together, just like I’d intended, and all of the transitions worked really well! The film still opens with the girl typing on her laptop, however as the camera zooms in towards the writing on the screen, it then dips to black, connecting the next sequence to this one. The next sequence doesn’t have a great deal of lighting, and therefore this works really well together, as it introduces what is happening. The girl puts out her cigarette, and pushed down the button on the ash tray, this therefore signifies a busy life style and smoking is the way of relieving herself from her stressful life. This then again dips to black as the lighting in the next sequence is again quite dim. The next sequence contains the girl getting ready (putting her coat on etc.), and walking out of her bedroom door. The door is closed on the camera, which signifies that she  is blocking us out from her life, as she is rushing. The girl then walks down her set of stairs, puts on her trainers (signifies youth), and again walks out of the door closing it on the camera.

There is an issue with the lighting in this sequence in the house, as the lighting flickers, but I am trying to deal with the problem, and will post more about that soon.

There is then a change of scenery as the camera then changes to outside in a street. The camera watched a set of steps, as the girl runs down them. Half way through the girl’s journey down the steps, the shot dips to black, and the character’s name appears on the screen, as well as the actor’s:

Kristine Cornish starring as Ellie-Mai.

After this it slowly dips back to the sequence of the girl walking down the steps and the camera focusing on the girl. (You now can’t tell that these are two different clips ) The camera zooms out as the girl walks closer towards it. When the girl approaches level with the camera, it turns slightly, and tracks her movement as she walks out of the corner of the shot.

This then fades to black as the scene again changes, as the girl now appears round another corner in a different location (this still being in a town, however this time in the town centre, whereas before it was just the housing estate which led us to believe the film was set in a town). The girl again walks towards the camera, however from the left hand corner, we can see a young male about to walk around the same corner as the girl, however from the opposite direction. As the two bump into one another, and the male has picked up the girl’s bag, the camera freeze frames on the male, and again dips to black, appearing with the character’s and actor’s name upon the screen:

Daniel Reed starring as Jayden Bond.

This then slowly fades back into the natural flow of the film and the pair exchange eye contact.

Acorss the bottom of the screen, the words: ‘This Was The Moment’ appear, as if they are telling the story of how they first met.

Non diegetic music then begins. The music sets the mood of romance, and a heart shape then forms around the couple, this then fades to black and the title of the film appears. I had intended to use a song which I feel works well with the feel of the film, however we were then told that we can only use unsigned music, so this is why I therefore have only got the romantic music appearing nearer the end of the opening, instead of running the entire way through.

Editing :/

Using adobe premiere elementsI began to start the editing, although it was a lot harder than I first expected.  The programme is quite difficult to use, however I got the hang of it quite quickly I soon began to insert the clips I wanted in my final film, as I had filmed the same shot a few times to ensure I had a good one After making a decision of what clips I actually wanted in the film, I began inserting them all, and started to put them all in the correct order. I then had to crop bits out of the clips, to ensure they were the right length and that the film then ‘flowed’ together more smoothly.

Once this had all been done and I was happy with the final result, I then began to look at the different transitions, and how these could make the different clips fit closer together, without telling the footage was different. There’s one clip in particular that I had this problem with. As I had filmed the same scene more than once, I found that in one clip the first half looked more professional, as the second half was shakierand appeared more ‘wind swepped’. In the second clip of the same scene, the second half looked more professional, and the first half wasn’t timed correctly. The camera angle had also slightly changed, and in the second half, there is an arch way in which the character through, which I feel creates a closer feel towards the character. Therefore I was using the first half of one clip, and the second half of the other.

Anyway, when editing these two together, it was difficult to get the timing correct when cropping, as the girl is walking down a set of stairs, and it was difficult to arrange her feet in the same position. This is therefore why I am going to fade the first half into the second by using the transition, dip to black. I thought that when the clip dipped to black I could use this to introduce the character/actor by having the actor’s and character’s name appear on the screen:

‘Kristine Cornish starring as Ellie-Mai’

Filming

Well the filming has begun, and seeing as there is no speech whithin my film I therefore do not need to prepare a script. 

I decided that my film needed to be located in a busy surrounding, to emphasise on the life style of many teenagers of today.  This is why I therefore went to a local town to carry out my filming.  The film starts off in a teenage girls bedroom, and the camera follows her as she slowly gets ready.  Once we see the girl exit her front door, the camera then skips to housing estate, and the camera tracks her as she gradually walks towards the camera. Once the girl has walked out of the view of the camera, we jump to her walking round another corner, however now she is carrying a shopping bag. I have done this to show time passing, and also to begin to create a personality for the character.  Again the girl walks towards the camera, although this time we are introduced to another character (the young male), who appears from the corner of the shot.  We can tell from the characteristics of the genre, as well as knowlage of the genre, that these two are going to meet.. and fall in love etc.  I have managed to create this prediction as the camera shows the two walking towards each other, however they are coming from opposite sides of the wall and will meet on the corner, as they bump in to each other. The girl will drop her bag, and the man acts the gentleman and picks it up, the camera will then freeze frame this shot.  As this shot of the pair is freeze framed, this will emphasise the connection between the both of them.

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The final storyboard

Here I have uploaded my storyboard, this has helped me as I now have a rough idea of the timing of the film, and what shots will actually be more appropriate.